People need water to live. The oceans cover three-fourths of Earth, making it the only blue planet in our solar system that can sustain life. We drink it, we bathe in it, we swim in it. 65% of our bodies are composed of water. But when it floods, water has the ability to kill. In fact, most floods cause a lot of damage because they happen so unexpectedly.
Forces of Nature: ThinkQuest 2000 (Team #C003603)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/whatsaflood.shtml
A flood is the submerging with water of a normally dry area. Floods are caused by many things, including rainstorms, slow water run-off, earthquakes, broken dams, underwater volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, or hurricanes.